Studio mic with audio card. If you take a condenser capsule that has been optimized for vocals and instrument and then build an audio chipset into the mic's electronics, the end product is a studio mic that behaves like a separate audio input, but retains the level of sensitivity, resolution and accuracy you would expect from a studio mic. Unlike other USB microphones on the market, the ST-USB is shipped with an ASIO driver letting you use it in all your ASIO software, and not only in a basic multimedia environment.